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Fabric updates safety procedures ahead of licensing appeal

By Andy Malt | Published on Wednesday 9 November 2016

Fabric has submitted a new 155 page operating manual, detailing safety, welfare and medical provisions, ahead of its upcoming appeal against losing its licence. The club has also suggested 32 new licence conditions, in the event that it is permitted to re-open.

As previously reported, Fabric was closed at the beginning of August pending a licence review, in the wake of two recent drug-related deaths at or near the venue. Despite strong arguments in the club’s favour, Islington Council then decided to revoke Fabric’s licence a month later.

Vowing to fight that ruling through the courts, Fabric launched a fund to collect donations towards what are likely to be hefty legal fees – raising over £250,000 in two weeks, and now standing at over £300,000. An appeal hearing is now scheduled at Highbury Magistrates Court on 28 Nov.

In the club’s latest update on the process of its appeal, Managing Director Gary Kilbey also revealed that the venue’s quality management systems have now received international accreditation from the ISO. And that Fabric representatives recently submitted written evidence to the House Of Lords Select Committee on the Licensing Act, providing twelve recommendations for changes in the law, including making closure more of a last resort.

Kilbey also welcomed the appointment of London’s new Night Czar, saying: “We would also like to offer our congratulations to Amy Lamé on her recent appointment as Night Czar and really look forward to working with her in helping make London the centre of night time culture which we have been a part of for the past seventeen years”.

Comedian and broadcaster Lamé was, of course, announced as London’s first night mayor last week.